When an operator performs braking operation by depressing a brake pedal of a vehicle, the vehicle may tilt forward by allowing the front of the vehicle to dive while the rear of the vehicle lift due to the load shift toward the front of the vehicle. Technologies to control damping force of shock absorbers accommodated in suspensions are disclosed in JP2011-173503A (hereinafter referred to as Patent reference 1) and JP2008-24143A (hereinafter referred to as Patent reference 2) to restrain the vehicle from tilting forward.
However, as disclosed in Patent reference 1, the vehicle needs to include various sensors to detect a pitching motion of the vehicle.
Further, when the operator releases the brake pedal from a state where the operator depresses the brake pedal, the vehicle swings back from a tilting forward attitude, leading to poor ride comfort for the operator. However, as disclosed in Patent reference 2, it is difficult to restrain the vehicle from swinging back from the tilting forward attitude.
A need thus exists for a vehicle control device which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.